A complaint against 10 British nationals accusing them of committing war crimes while serving with the Israeli military in Gaza will be submitted to the Metropolitan Police on Monday.
Michael Mansfield KC, one of the UK’s leading human rights lawyers, will hand in a 240-page dossier to Scotland Yard’s war crimes unit. The report will be submitted on behalf of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC).
The report accuses suspects of crimes including targeted killing of civilians and aid workers, indiscriminate attacks on civilians and aid workers, and the deportation or forcible transfer of a population.
The 10 suspects have also been accused of coordinated attacks on protected sites, including historic monuments and religious sites.
For legal reasons, the identities of the accused have not been made public, but the 10 people accused include Israeli dual nationals.
Mansfield said,
“If one of our nationals is committing an offence, we ought to be doing something about it. Even if we can’t stop the government of foreign countries behaving badly, we can at least stop our nationals from behaving badly.”
He continues,
“British nationals are under a legal obligation not to collude with crimes committed in Palestine. No one is above the law.”
The dossier is based on open-source evidence and witness testimony.
According to the report, Britain is responsible under international treaties to investigate and prosecute those who have committed “core international crimes”.
The director of PCHR, Raji Sourani, said,
"This is illegal, this is inhuman, and enough is enough. The government cannot say we didn’t know; we are providing them with all the evidence."
A UN Special Committee, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, numerous other rights organizations and countries have accused Israel of carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people during its military offensive in Gaza since 7 October 2023.
Since Israel shattered its ceasefire with Hamas on 18 March, the UN states that at least 100 children have been killed or injured every day in Gaza.
Read more on the Guardian here.